The Celtic midfielder has twice been farmed out to Aberdeen and is an integral figure of McInnes’ squad.

The Scotland Under-21 star will enter the final year of his Parkhead contract after being signed in September 2015 on a four-year deal by Ronny Deila.

It’s understood McInnes tried to secure Christie on a permanent basis last summer after his initial loan period but nothing materialised.

However, the Dons boss will try to sign him for good in the summer should Celtic decide to offload him.

McInnes hopes Rodgers will let Christie go (Image: SNS Group)

McInnes said: “The plan is for Ryan to go back to Celtic at the end of the season.

“But if we are told any different to that then of course I would like the opportunity to work with him again.

“It is Celtic and Ryan’s call if I am being honest.

Christie is out of contract in the summer of 2019 (Image: Action Images via Reuters)

“He has been a brilliant addition to us in his loan spells.”

Christie, who missed Sunday’s 2-0 loss to his parent club because of the terms of his loan agreement, will be back alongside skipper Graeme Shinnie, suspended for the visit of Celtic, against Motherwell at Fir Park tonight.

McInnes found himself on the receiving end of adverse comments from Reds fans after Sunday’s defeat with many pointing to his decision to encourage his team to allow Celtic possession in the first forty-five minutes, as a mistake.

It marked their 10th successive loss to the Hoops, a stat too much for many fans to swallow.

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“We are being criticised for not beating Celtic which has been the case over the past couple of seasons.

“So be it. We don’t really have a lot to defend ourselves with because of the results.

“Until we win a game it will be difficult to argue against that but we take confidence because we gave ourselves a chance to get a result and we had some good performers although we missed Shinnie and Christie.

“I thought the team performed very well, put everything into it and never quite got the result and the criticism has come.

McInnes has defended his players (Image: SNS Group)

“We are a very tight group and we all know our own jobs.

“There were a lot of disappointed people in the dressing room on Sunday because we felt we had an opportunity and we were very close to getting a result.

“But we are well aware with 10 games to go in the league we still have a lot to play for and a quarter final of the Scottish Cup to address on Saturday as well.

“Hopefully we can get back to winning ways and after Saturday and the visit of Kilmarnock for the Scottish Cup quarter-final, we might be in the semi-final of the cup and it will be somebody else’s turn.

“A lot of stats backed up how I felt about the game because we had more shots and had more traffic in their box than our box.

“When the result doesn’t come you can be criticised for that.

“It is the nature of the job and of being a manager.”

Cosgrove won’t feature against Motherwell (Image: SNS)

McInnes described new signing Cosgrove’s lunge at Celts skipper Brown, after the striker had been on the pitch just eight minutes, as foolish.

The Dons gaffer said: “It’s a learning curve for him it and there’s not a player in here that hasn’t made a mistake.

“It was costly as the momentum was with us at the time and I think his sending off played a part in killing that.

“I thought Sam had got us up the pitch and drawn a couple of fouls and showed a real eagerness to play in the limited time he was on.

“He was foolish and it was a mistake but he has to move on from that and I have told him not to overthink it because he will get stick but it won’t define his career here.

“He was upset compounded by the fact that it was his debut but it was a poor challenge and I wouldn’t have been happy with it myself if it had been on one of my players.”